Separable steel square.



@www Ur THE NaRRIs Psrsks co, WASHINGTON, nfc.

SEPARABLE STEEL SQUARE.

T o all whom tt may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES A. WRAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Separable Steel Squares, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an improvement on the square patented. to me Aug. 20, 1901, by Letters-Patent of the United States No. 680,830.

The objects of this invention are maXimum simplicity, cheapness, convenience of manufacture and convenience of assembling and disassembling; also to avoid the use of any small parts liable to be lost; and to make aI separable steel square of only two parts that can be assembled and disassembled by an unskilled person without the use of tools.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Figure 1 is a view of one face of a separable Asteel square embodying this invention. Fig. 2 is a fragmental view o-f the other face of said square. Dotted lines indicate the position of the smaller member of the square before it is fully connected with the larger member. Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmental view of that face of the larger member of the square shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmental view of that face of the smaller member of the square partly shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section on line indicated by :v5-m7, Figs. 1, 3 and .4. Dotted lines indicate a position of parts before the sections are fully set together. Fig. 6 is an edge view of the articulating tongue of the smaller member of the square. Said -smaller member is shown in cross-section on line indicated by we, Fig. 4. Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section of the articulating seat of the larger member of the square on line indicated by line ri-m7, Figs. 1, 3 and 4. Fig. 8 is a crosssection indicated by line w8, Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5. Fig. 9 is a cross section on line indicated by line m9, Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5. Fig. 10 is a section on line w1", Fig. 4. Fig. 11 is a section of a modified form on line corresponding to that indicated by :t5-a7, Fig. 2.

The arrows on the section-indicating lines indicate the direction of sight for the cor responding sectional views.

The square consists of only two pieces a UNITED STA'IEWPATENT OFFICE.

JAMES A. WRAY, 0F LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. f,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 8, 1909.

y,.1, Patented Feb. 28, 1911.

Serial No. 526,911.

large broad section a and .a small narrow section b. The larger section a is a straight, thin parallelogram corresponding to that portion of an ordinary carpenters steel square that would remain if the smaller limb were cut away, and is provided on one side at one end with a dovetail groove forming a seat o open at one end and having undercut parallel side walls d, e, extending longitudinally of the section or, part way toward the closed end of the seat, and a curved end wall f uniting the walls d, e, at their innermost ends. The side wall d extends from the extremity of the articulating end g of the larger section to the curved end wall f, and the inner side wall e terminates at a distance from said end g equal to the width of the main body of the small section Z9 of the square which main body corresponds to the smaller limb of a carpenters steel square and is provided with a thin rectangular lateral extension or attaching arm hereinafter described, to fit the seat o. Said seat c is open at one side, one edge and one end 4of the large section a.

The walls d, e, are provided for a suitable distance from their outer ends toward the rounded wall f with rabbet grooves 72., i, and the transverse traces of the wall f and of the intermediate walls y' that form extensions from the walls d, c, to the rounded wall f are normal to the side faces 7c, m, of the larger section a, thus affording a vertical walled chamber into and from which a spring tongue hereinafter described may move. Near the inner end of the seat c and adjacent the rounded wall f thereof, an orifice in the form 0f a perforation n is provided, extending thr-ough the bottom of the seat c and being preferably circular in crosssection to receive a catch on said spring tongue.

The smaller section is provided on one side with a gain o terminating in a wall p that is preferably normal to the edges and faces of the section Y). The width of the gain 0 from the wall p to the end of the section nearest thereto, is equal to the width of the seat o on the larger section a. The smaller section ZJ is provided at its articulating end with a right 4anode attaching arm g to seat in the recess o. gaid arm q is recessed on its inner face to form a spring portion r and is provided with a catch in the form of a stud sadapted to t tightly in the orifice n in the larger section a when the attaching arm fj is seated in the seat c. The recessed poi'- tion of the attaching arm g and the end portion beyond the recess, forms a spring-latchingl tongue t and the body of the arm (l is provided between. said recess tr and the edges of the smaller section Y) with rabbet tongues u and c to tit the grooves if., e', respectively. The latching tongue t is of such width as to slide between the walls al, c.

By terminating` the dovetail grooves fz., at a distance from the end of the seat c, both such grooves can be formed by a single operation of a single rot-ary cutter the edge of which is equal in thickness to that oi the rabbet tongues u, 0; thus greatly facilitating and cheapening the manufacture. It is thus seen that the square is formed ot two members, one of which is grooved and the other of which slides in the groove and is detachably held therein by a latching tongue.

To disassemble the square, an instrument, as a linger ot the operator or the point ot a screwdriver or other tool, may be applied to the. stud .v through the perforation n. and the spring tip of the arm t] may be thereby pushed outward so as to move the stud s from engagement with the floor ot the groove c. Then by applying force to the member o of the square while the member czv is held, the arm may be slid from its seat.

1t is understood that the arrangement and construction of the latching means may be varied without departing from the broad spirit of this invention and that equivalents for the latching stud s and its seat n may be contrived wit-hout departing from the spirit of the invention. One of the modiiicat-ions which may be employed is illustrated in Fig. 11, where the latching stud s and its seat n do not extend entirely through the floor of the groove 0', and the tip of the spring latching tongue t is provided with an undercut opening as shown at w and the face of the larger member a is cut away to form an opening as indicated at ai, so that an instrument may be inserted into the opening between the larger member a and the tip of the latching tongue t to pry the tongue out to release the latch.

1. A separable square comprising a broad sect-ion which is a straight thin parallelogra-n1 corresponding to that portion of an ordinary carpenters steel square that would remain if the smaller limb ot the square were cut away, said section being provided on one side at one end with a dovetailed groove forming a seat open at one end and having undercut parallel side walls extending longitudinally of the section part way toward the closed end of the seat, thus forming an articulating end :tor the section, and a curved end wall uniting the side walls at their innermost ends, one of the side walls extending from the extremity oi the articulating end of said section to the curved end wall and the other side )all terminating at a distance from said articulating end equal to the width of thc inain:4 body of the small sect-ion of said ordinary-carpentei"s square; said side walls being provided for a distance Jfrom their outer ends toward the rounded wall with undercut grooves; a vertical walled chan'lber being provided at the end of the groove and an orifice being provided near the end of the groove in the floor thereof; and a narrow section corresponding to the smaller section ot a. carpenters steel square provided on one side with a gain terminating in the wall that is normal to the edges and faces of said narrow section, the width of the gain from the wall to the end of the section nearest thereto being equal to the width on the seat. ot the broad section, the narrow section being provided at its articulating end with a rectangular attaching arm to seat in the recess ot the broad section; said arm being recessed ou its inner tace to form a spring port-ion and provided with a catch in the form of a stud adapted to fit tightly in the orifice in the larger section when the attaching arm is seated in the seat; the recessed portion ot the attaching arm and the end portion beyond the recess forming a spring latching tongue; the body of the arm being provided between said recess and the edges of the smaller section with rabbet tongues to fit the undercut of said walls, respectively. and said lat-ching tongue being of such width as to slide between said undercut walls.

2. A carpenters square comprising two sections that form the usual wide and narrow members of a carpenters steel square, the narrow section being pro-vided with an eX- tension that projects therefrom at right angles and has parallel walls which are rabbeted a portion of the distance from the narrow section toward the end of the eXtension, saidextension terminating in a resilient latching member provided with a catch, the broad section of said square being provided along its length with a groove one of the walls of which vterminates at the end of said section and the other wall of whichgroove terminates short of such end; said walls being undercut a portion of the way only, to receive the rabbet tongues of the said eatension` the end of said extension titting said groove and being formed for engagement with the tloor of the groove.

3. A separable square comprising two sections one of which sections is provided with a groove having undercut parallel walls and the other of which is provided with a dovetail arm in said groove, said arm being provided with a resilient portion near the tip, and said arm and the grooved section being provided with interlocking means beyond said resilient portion that are releasable by springing the tip from the floor oi the groove.

4f. The combination With a member pro kvided in one aoe With a groove extending to one edge and one end of the member, the Walle of said groove being undercut a portion of the Way toward the tip of the groove, of another member provided with an arm fitted in the groove; Said arm having a resilient portion near its end and being provided With latch means to engage the grooved member to latch said members together; said means being' releasable by springing the resilient portion away from the floor of the groove.

The combination with a member provided in one face With a groove extending to one edge and one end only of the memberP the Walls of said groove being undercut a portion of the Way toward the tip of the groove, of another member provided with an arm iitted in the groove; said arm having a resilient portion near its end and being provided. ivith latch means to engage the 25 grooved member to lateh said members together; said means being releasable by springing' the resilient portion avvay -from the floor of the groove, and the lioor of said grooved member being provided with a per- 30 JAMES A. VVRAY.

In presence 0i- JAMES R. TOWNSEND, L. BELLE Rien.

Copesuof this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of .`|r?atentsJ Washington, .'D. C. f 

